Suggested Books

PARTNERS

Ancient Chinese Remedy Could Wipe Out Tuberculosis

A team of researchers have recently found that centuries-old herbal medicine, discovered by Chinese scientists to cure malaria, could also aid in tuberculosis treatment and even slow drug resistance.

Ancient Remedy Known as Artemisinin Could Be the Cure for Tuberculosis

It is estimated that in 2015, tuberculosis was responsible for nearly two million deaths. Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (the TB-causing bacteria) needs oxygen to “invade” the human body. The immune system starves this bacterium of oxygen to control the infection. The team, led by microbiologist Robert Abramovitch from Michigan State University, examined more than 500,000 different compounds during their study, and found that artemisinin stopped the ability of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis becoming dormant, a stage of the disease that often makes the use of antibiotics ineffective. Artemisinin is isolated from the plant Artemisia annua, sweet wormwood, a herb employed in Chinese traditional medicine.

Abramovitch stated to Michigan State University’s official website , “When TB bacteria are dormant, they become highly tolerant to antibiotics. Blocking dormancy makes the TB bacteria more sensitive to these drugs and could shorten treatment times.” And added, “If Mtb can’t sense low oxygen, then it can’t become dormant and will die.”

Abramovitch also suggests that dormant TB can survive and stay inactive for decades in the human body. However, if the immune system weakens at some point, it can wake back up and spread. Regardless if it wakes up or stays “asleep” though, scientists have noticed that TB usually takes up to six months to treat and this is one of the main reasons the disease is so hard to get under control. Abramovitch strongly believes that the study could be key to shortening the course of therapy because it can clear out the dormant, hard-to-kill bacteria. This could lead to improving patient outcomes and slowing the evolution of drug-resistant TB.

This is Not the First Time an Ancient Treatment Has Proved Useful Today

Written nearly a thousand years ago, the Kitab al-tabikh , written by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq, is the most comprehensive work of its kind. It includes more than 600 recipes for culinary and medicinal dishes, including a well-known ancient Middle Eastern hangover cure. This hangover cure, called ‘Kkishkiyya’, is a meat, chickpea, and vegetable stew with the addition of a special ingredient known as khask, a fermented yoghurt, milk, and whey product, which is thought to be the key to alleviating what Nasrallah describes as excess heat in the head and stomach. Kkishkiyya is still cooked in the same way today, mostly in northern Iraq and the Levant where people prefer it instead of any contemporary medicine for hangover.

The Kitab al-tabikh written by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq. Credit: The National Library of Finland

Further, a 2015 study conducted by the University of Nottingham, showed that a 9 th century Anglo-Saxon treatment for eye infections has been used successfully to kill tenacious bacteria cultures. The ancient remedy consisting of onion, garlic, cow bile and wine was proved to be an effective weapon against modern antibiotic-resistant superbugs such as MRSA.

Another ancient Chinese herbal remedy has also proved useful in the modern day, this time in the treatment of chronic pain. The remedy comes from Corydalis yanhusuo , a flowering herbal plant that grows in Siberia, Northern China and Japan. The results showed the importance of turning to ancient knowledge for solutions rather than focusing on the creation of synthetic drugs.

More Research Needs to be Done Before Artemisinin Can be Used Safely for TB Treatments

Despite the promising evidence that Artemisinin could potentially cure TB, the scientists of the study suggest that there's a lot more research to be done before we can use artemisinin in TB treatments. Abramovitch told to Léa Surugue at International Business Times that there’s a long road ahead, “We must note that tests in humans are a long way away… we would have to conduct more studies, including to assess the interactions of the compounds we have identified with TB drugs. If we used artemisinin, we would have to make sure that resistance to this medicine does not develop, as is the case today for some malaria patients.” However, Abramovitch remains very optimistic for the future and believes that this ancient Chinese remedy could save millions of people from the horrific pains of tuberculosis if it proves to work safely and effectively in subsequent trials, "Two billion people worldwide are infected with Mtb,” Abramovitch said in a press release and added, "This new method of targeting dormant bacteria is exciting because it shows us a new way to kill it."

Theodoros

Theodoros Karasavvas, J.D.-M.A. has a cum laude degree in Law from the University of Athens, a Masters Degree in Legal History from the University of Pisa, and a First Certificate in English from Cambridge University. When called upon to do... Read More

Comments

Modern scientists are suddenly discovering that traditional remedies are actually efficient... Modern médecine is a 100 years old, and humans and their ancestors have been around for hundreds of thousands of years. And we have survived and multiplied for that long without modern medecine. The key to health is not the cure but the lifestyle: a good harmony/balance between body, soul, mind and spirit (if Schtrumpf manages to keep all the immigrants out of the USA, the American population will be wiped out in no time...). Traditionally, Chinese doctors were paid as long as people stayed healthy... If illness occurred, any traditional medecine man would look for and treat the cause(s), not the symptom(s). Every living organism has to have its own immune system, so of course, each organism has therapeutic properties (for its own benefit) which are, in many instances, beneficial for other species as well. You don't need to be a scientist to understand that...

One thing stands out from ancient treatise on treatment of conditions and that is a holistic approach.
In western medicine the focus is on treatment of symptoms and rarely on cure or looking at the individual as a whole.
Until we can reduce the stranglehold the pharma companies have on this approach, ( treatment of symptoms means more profit, a cure, well less profit as individuals won't need to come back), things are not going to change anytime soon.
I am aware this is a gross over simplification of the issue but it is symptomatic of a material istc culture

Artemisinin for malaria and now for tuberculosis - maybe someone will decide to study members of the artemisia genus as a treatment for Lyme disease soon. The plant grows rapidly in temperate zone gardens regardless of neglect. Our Amish neighbors who specialize in botanicals claim that it is safe to eat one leaf per day from any medicinal plant in the garden, as a general guideline.

Ancient Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife shaped every aspect of their culture and society. A find in a 3,500-year-old shrine is throwing new light on the beliefs of provincial Egyptians. Experts...

An ancient wax tablet containing “remarkable examples” of a child's Greek homework from 1,800 years ago includes spelling exercises, times tables and handwriting. This rare and valuable insight into...

A woman walking through a cemetery in northern Israel has made a very important discovery. After heavy rains had washed away top soil, she chanced upon the top of a stone head, which turned out to be...

Viral Articles

The Paiutes, a Native-American tribe indigenous to parts of Nevada, have an oral tradition that they told to early white settlers of the area about a race of red-haired, white giants or ‘barbarians’...

There are many stone artifacts from the ancient world made from the hardest stone on the planet such as granite and diorite, which have been cut and shaped with such quality, precision and accuracy that the standard explanations of their manufacture are simply inadequate.

Myths & Legends

The Paiutes, a Native-American tribe indigenous to parts of Nevada, have an oral tradition that they told to early white settlers of the area about a race of red-haired, white giants or ‘barbarians’...

Ancient Technology

There are many stone artifacts from the ancient world made from the hardest stone on the planet such as granite and diorite, which have been cut and shaped with such quality, precision and accuracy that the standard explanations of their manufacture are simply inadequate.

Our Mission

At Ancient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there exists countless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts that have yet to be discovered and explained.

The goal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe.

We’re the only Pop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives.

By bringing together top experts and authors, this archaeology website explores lost civilizations, examines sacred writings, tours ancient places, investigates ancient discoveries and questions mysterious happenings. Our open community is dedicated to digging into the origins of our species on planet earth, and question wherever the discoveries might take us. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings.